Wednesday, March 26, 2008

MORTGAGE FINANCE

Freddie Mac said its mortgage holdings shrank at a 12.4 percent annual rate last month, ahead of regulatory changes meant to boost its role in the slumping mortgage market. The portfolio contracted by $7.4 billion, to $709.5 billion, in February, falling for a second month after a $19 billion jump in December, the McLean company said.

Host Hotels & Resorts, a Bethesda-based lodging real estate investment trust, plans to form a joint venture with an affiliate of GIC Real Estate Pte to explore Asian and Australian investment opportunities. The two companies will invest up to $600 million in the joint venture, with Host owning about 25 percent. A Host affiliate will earn a fee for providing asset management services. GIC is the real estate investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

AT&T named former VeriSign executive John M. Donovan chief technology officer. Donovan quit the board of NII Holdings, the Reston-based provider of wireless services in Latin America, because of the new job, NII said in a regulatory filing.

MaxJet Airways, the start-up airline that sought bankruptcy protection Dec. 24, has until Aug. 20 to file a Chapter 11 plan. Bankruptcy Judge Peter J. Walsh in Wilmington, Del., granted Dulles-based MaxJet a 120-day extension of its exclusivity period from April 22, according to documents filed Monday.

Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.